The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHEF) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.8333.

CHEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Chefs’ Warehouse from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chefs’ Warehouse news, CEO Christopher Pappas sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total transaction of $9,750,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,189,453 shares in the company, valued at $170,777,334. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christina Polychroni sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.21, for a total transaction of $356,445.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 24,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,951,892.82. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chefs’ Warehouse

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chefs’ Warehouse by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. 91.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Chefs’ Warehouse Stock Performance

Shares of CHEF stock opened at $95.29 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.18. Chefs’ Warehouse has a one year low of $53.20 and a one year high of $97.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.94 and a beta of 1.44.

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.17. Chefs’ Warehouse had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Chefs’ Warehouse will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc is a specialty food distributor that supplies a broad range of high‐end ingredients and culinary products to professional chefs, restaurants, hotels, and other foodservice operators. Headquartered in Maspeth, New York, the company sources its portfolio from local artisans, boutique producers and leading global suppliers. Its core offerings include fresh and frozen proteins, specialty cuts of meat and seafood, handcrafted cheeses and charcuterie, seasonal produce, value‐added preparations, pantry staples and premium desserts and beverages.

The company operates a network of distribution centers strategically located in major metropolitan markets across North America.